Barley Tea
by rubyshards
Summary: In which Seifer and Aerith discuss Leon over a cup of tea. [Part of my LeonxSeifer verse.]


Sometimes, when Leon would be out doing whatever-the-hell it was that he did during the day, the pretty brunette woman with the long braid and the soft, kind green eyes would stop over, carrying a bundle of Leon's groceries and a steaming thermos of barley tea for Seifer. Her name was Aerith, although it took Seifer forever to remember that, because he had always been horrible with names, and she had a kind smile and a motherly air to her that made him feel at home around her. He enjoyed her company, and looked forward to her weekly visits at the little house – when Leon was out, he was supposed to stay at home, and he had nothing else to do but dig through the old collections Leon had stored away.

Today she came bearing a tray of sweets she had baked for him and that familiar light-blue thermos filled with her barley tea (he'd never liked tea before, but her tea was different than any kind he'd ever had, and he actually didn't mind it), the groceries she bought for Leon stuffed in plastic bags and looped over her forearm as she pushed her way through the front door.

When she walked in, he was sitting on the couch, thumbing through an old, worn weapons magazine he had found in Leon's room, marveling at the various models of gunblades that had been marked by a thin circle of blue ink. He leaped up at her arrival, smiling at her and taking the groceries from her arm and putting them on the kitchen counter. She greeted him with a grin and a nod of her head, placing the tray and barley tea next to the groceries.

He glanced at the treats, peering under the edge of the tinfoil curiously, grinning when he caught sight of the cookies that she had baked, the tray stacked with the warm treats. Without asking he plucked one from the bunch, grabbing the container of tea and trekking over toward the wooden table that sat in the center of the room, tossing himself lazily into one of the chairs. Aerith giggled at his actions, as she normally did, and he pouted and glared at the thermos as he popped it open, taking a sip. He enjoyed the woman's company, but she had this horrible tendency of treating him like a _child, _and he hated itHe didn't have the heart to complain to her about it, though.

"I knew you'd like the cookies." She sat down across from him, as was their regular routine, and he grinned at her, taking another bite of the sweet and gulping down the tea afterward. She made excellent baked goods, apparently, and Seifer made a mental note to convince her to bring them more often.

"They're good." She seemed happy to hear this, her face lighting up and her eyes glowing with pride. Her eyes were a color similar to his, only hers were lighter, a little less fogged up by _something _that he wasn't able to name whenever he glanced in a mirror, and he thought they were a whole lot nicer than his, carrying this little glow, as if she were something otherworldly (but not in a bad way, unlike her boyfriend's, that Cloud guy's, eyes).

"That's good." She paused, her face creasing into the faintest of frowns, and Seifer watched her carefully, wondering what it was that could make the normally cheerful woman look so upset. "How has Leon been?"

"Same as always: a pain-in-the-ass, frigid prick. You know." Seifer Almasy had never really learned when to hold his tongue, and manners had never been something he had learned, seeing as how he had never had a mother to teach them to him. Not that that bothered him, really.

Aerith smiled, a bittersweet sort of grin, and Seifer frowned in return, wondering if maybe he had said something he shouldn't have.

"He's just closed-up." She whispered as she looked closely at her folded hands on the table before her, as if they were the most interesting things in the world. Seifer watched her closely, and noted, for the second time since he had met Aerith, that she must have, at one point, loved the stubborn brunette that he lived with. He wondered how anyone could love that man, but he didn't question it. "He wasn't always like that, you know." Seifer was a little caught off guard by the quiet tone of Aerith's voice, having not expected her to keep talking, and he glanced up at her curiously, hoping that he'd finally get to learn a bit more about the icy brunette he was forced to live with.

"Yeah? Could have fooled me." She smiled, glancing up at him again, her eyes warm and soft.

"He closed up a few years ago. Things happened, and he changed." A sigh slipped from her flower petal lips, and she glanced out the window, the perfect picture of a goddess or an angel or any of those other things Seifer didn't really believe in. "We all changed. But sometimes I think he changed the most."

"How come?" Seifer felt a little bad for asking, because a soft sadness crept into Aerith's eyes after he spoke, and he wished he could take back his question and just ignore it.

"A while ago something terrible happened here. A lot of people were hurt, and we lost many friends and family." She smiled meekly at him, shaking her head and sending dark brown hair spiraling in wisps over her bare shoulder, contrasting with her smooth, pale skin.

"Rinoa?" He mumbled, more to himself than to her, and her eyes widened just a fraction at his knowledge of the name, a questioning glance being shot his way. "I saw a picture in that old photo album of Leon's." She nodded, answering his question, and he fell silent, letting his eyes fall to trace the grain of the wood of the dinner table, sweeping along patterns as he thought about that for a moment.

"She was a good friend of his. We all lost someone that day." Seifer could tell by the sad little gleam in her eyes that she had lost someone then, too. A part of him was curious as to what happened on "that day," but he dared not ask for fear of making her even more upset.

He dropped the topic there, climbing to his feet and snatching up the weapons magazine, bringing it back over to show Aerith the things he had found that were of interest to him, in a meager effort to cheer her up. She smiled again, and the topic drifted back to being a gentle buzz in the back of their minds, and they spoke of his getting a weapon of his own and barley tea and chocolate chip cookies.

Seifer decided to be a little less harsh on Leon for a while, after that conversation, and he made it a point to save most of the cookies for when Leon returned home.


End file.
